Apparatus for and method of removing abandoned streetcar tracks



mmh Room Jan- 26 1943- E. c. THlEs 2,309,262

APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF REMOVING ABANDONED STREET CAR TRACKS Filed Feb. 7, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheetl l MPLEMENTS.

Jan' 26 1943- E. c. THM-:s 2,309,262

APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF REMOVING ABANDONED STREET CAR TRACKS Filed Feb. 7, 1940 2%. 5.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Eline r Hz'ed, 2k/furor Patented Jan. 26, 1943 APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD F REMOV- ING ABANDONED STR-EETCAR TRACKS Elmer C. Thies, Fredonia, N. Y.

Application February 7, 1940, Serial No. 317,704

20 Claims.

My invention relates to an apparatus for and method of removing abandoned street car tracks.

At the present time, busses are being substituted for street cars in many cities and towns, and many interurban systems have been abandoned due to the use of busses between cities and towns. In Cities and towns the railway tracks were invariably embedded in the street pavements, and many interurban railwaysl had tracks laid in paved roads.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a method whereby such tracks can be easily torn up without destroying or otherwise damaging large areas of the road. This is accomplished by supporting my improved apparatus on the pavement and utilizing parts thereof as pavement hold-down means, such means extending along opposite sides of an embedded railway rail and in close proximity thereto, and while serving to hold down and hold intact portions of the road adjacent to the rail, preventing the application of strain or stress to any outer areas of the road surface. It also serves to pull up the rail and so much of the road surface only as constitutes a narrow elongated area located between the hold-down parts of the apparatus.

Another object of my invention is to provide an apparatus which will straddle the rail of a track, hold down portions of the road at opposite sides of the rail and operate by suitable hoisting means to lift up the rail from its embedded position within the roadway, and with it, narrow areas of the road at either side of th-e rail.

Another object of my invention is to provide an apparatus of this kind which may be moved progressively along a track and lift a rail of the latter from its embedded position in the road while progressively advancing the apparatus along the track.

A further object of my invention is to provide an apparatus which, while in operation, will rest upon the road surface at opposite sides of a rail of a track, and equip the same with hoisting means adapted to be connected to the rail to lift the same from its embedded position in the road and simultaneously therewith pull up a narrow area of the road at either side of the rail.

A still further object is to provide means for lifting the apparatus and supporting the same on traction wheels to permit the apparatus to be advanced along a rail and then lower-ed to permit of progressively tearing up the rail and small areas of road at either side of the rail.

A still further object of my invention is to provide an apparatus of the kind mentioned, in

which provision is made for varying the width of the road areas to be torn up while lifting a rail from its embedded position in the road.

A still further object is to provide a novel method of removing rails of abandoned railway, and simultaneously therewith lifting up narrow areas of the pavement at either side of a rail.

With these and other objects to appear hereinafter, my invention consists in the novel method herein described and in the construction and arrangement of parts comprising the apparatus which will also be hereinafter described, and all of which will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus embodying the features of my invention in a representative manner, and disclosing the method employed in removing abandoned tracks from paved and other roads in which the rails of the track may be embedded.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken on line 2 2, Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the area crossing said line.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the apparatus viewed from the right hand end as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken on line 4 4, Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrow crossing said line and showing the gear wheels and operating wheel through which said line is drawn, in edge view, showing also the apparatus broken to indicate additional height.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on line 5 5, Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged vertical transverse section through a portion of the machine, taken on line 6 6, Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrow crossing said line and showing the apparatus in lowered position so as to rest upon the road surface in the position in which it is used when removing a rail from its embedded position in a road.

Fig. 7 is a similar section shown through a smaller' portion transversely of the apparatus, and showing the traction wheel lowered and the apparatus otherwise elevated so that it may be easily moved along the track to operate upon portions of the rail partly lifted from the road anddother portions still rmly embedded in the rca Fig. 8 is a side view of a portion of the frame showing the means provided therein to permit the axle of the traction wheels to be raised and lowered therein.

Fig. 9 is a transverse section through a portion` Jun of the rail showing the maximum width subsleeper employed, which is interchangeable with narrower sub-sleepers, depending upon the areas of the road to be torn up adjacent a rail, said sub-sleeper being dispensed with entirely when the maximum width of roadway is to be torn up with the removal of a rail.

Fig. 10 is an enlarged section taken on line I-I0, Fig. 3.

Fig. 11 is a detached perspective view of one of the vertically movable bearings for the axle of the traction wheels.

Now referring to the drawings in detail, the reference numeral I2 designates the frame of the apparatus or machine which may be of any desired construction or formed of any material capable of providing hold-down elements at opposite sides of a rail to be removed from a road and being equipped with lifting means adapted to be connected with a rail of a track, and by means manually or power-actuated adapted to exert a pulling strain upwardly on the rail while holding down adjacent elongated portions of the road at opposite sides of the rail, thus leaving the road intact except for extremely narrow elongated areas adjacent the rail, which are necessarily torn up when exerting a pulling force upwardly on the rail while holding down the road by a counteracting force applied over elongated areas in closely spaced proximity to the rail.

In the embodiment of my invention shown, the frame comprises two comparatively long sleepers I3 which are spaced apart and of angular formation in cross section, the inner edges of the horizontal anges thereof serving to govern the maximum transverse areas of the road at either side of a rail of a track to be torn up when removing the rail from the road; and as this area depends somewhat on the track construction, and to a certain extent on the nature of the pavement, this road area is preferably narrow. When it is found unnecessary to tear up the maximum areas of the road, I apply a sub-sleeper I4 to the under side of each of the sleepers I3, somewhat wider than the latter and which may have the maximum width shown in Fig. 9, or any other width which will restrict the areas of the road to be torn up; but in all cases this sub-sleeper will extend inwardly beyond the inner edge of the sleeper I3 to which it is applied.

In the drawings I have illustrated a rail I5 of a track being removed. Occasionally a road and track construction will permit of removing rails by tearing up only such portions of the road as extend over the base anges I6 of the rail. This denes the minimum width of the elongated road areas that would be torn up, and this is indicated by the broken line I'I. in Fig. 9. In this figure I have also defined the maximum width of the road to be torn up by the broken line designated I8, which is in the plane of the inner edge of the sleeper I3.

The sub-sleepers I4 are each fastened to the bottom of an angular sleeper I3 by means of bolts I9, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The heads of these bolts are counter sunk in the sub-sleeper and the shank thereof extends through the latter and the horizontal flange of the angular sleeper. Each bolt has a nut applied to its upper end bearing against the upper surface of said horizontal flange. The sub-sleepers, when employed, can be easily removed from the sleepers and a sub-sleeper of different width substituted therefor. It is of course understood that in Fig. 9, which is somewhat diagrammatic, the lower end of one side frame member is shown, and that the broken line 2| represents the longitudinal center of the machine. Consequently, the distance between the line 2I and the inner edge of the subsleeper I4 indicates one-half the width of the road which will be torn up when lifting the rail from its embedded position in the road.

In the remaining figures of the drawings the sub-sleeper is narrower than that shown in Fig. 9, and consequently the elongated area of the road to be torn up will be Wider.

Secured at or near the rear ends of the sleepers I3 are uprights 22, which in the form shown are channel-shaped in cross section, but may, of course, be of any other cross-sectional formation. These uprights are braced by means of bracerods 23 extending from their upper ends to the front ends of the sleepers, but they may be otherwise formed and secured in place. Welded or otherwise secured within the channels of these uprights are bearings 24, 25 which are arranged in pairs transversely, and in the lower pair of bearings 24 an operating shaft 26 is `iournaled. This shaft extends through the uprights at opposite sides of the machine and has an operating or fly wheel 2l secured to one end thereof in any suitable manner, which is provided with a handle 28 to be grasped for rotating the wheel and consequently the shaft 26. Secured to this shaft at the opposite side of the frame is a pinion 29 which is in mesh with a gear wheel 30 fastened to a shaft 3| journaled in the upper pair of bearings 25. This shaft, like the shaft 26, extends through one of the uprights a suflicient distance to secure the gear wheel 30 thereon and also to secure outside of said gear wheel a pinion 32 which is in mesh with a gear wheel 33 mounted on a crank 34, journaled in bearings 35 secured in any suitable manner to the upper ends of the uprights 22. This crank shaft has its crank 36 arranged centrally between the uprights, and attached to said crank in any suitable manner is a pull-cable 3'! which leads downwardly therefrom and has its lower end secured to the outer or free end of a beam-lever 38.

Secured to the sleepers I3, a distance forward of the uprights 22, is a pair of uprights 39. These are shorter than the uprights 22 and are preferably braced forwardly and rearward due to the opposite strains applied thereto under the operation of the machine. For this reason a pair of brace-rods 40 extend rearwardly and downwardly from the upper ends of these braces to the lower ends of the uprights 22, and a second pair of brace rods 4I extends downwardly and forwardly from the upper ends of said braces to the forward ends of the sleepers I3.

The uprights 39 are also of channel-formation in cross section and in the upper ends thereof have pivot blocks 42 secured provided with inwardly-projecting studs or pivots 43 that enter sockets 44 inserted in opposite ends of a transverse pivot beam 45. This pivot beam is therefore rockable on the uprights 39 and midway between its ends has the beam-lever 38 strapped or otherwise secured thereto. In the particular construction shown, the beam-lever 38 has its inner end lying transversely across the medial region of the pivot beam 45 and a metallic band or strap 46 is utilized to secure the two together. The pivotbeam may be rockably or pivotally mounted in the uprights 39 in any approved manner, and it and the beam-lever 38 may each be constructed of tubing or any other suitable material and be connected together in any manner other than shown, so long as their purpose and mode of operation remain the same.

In preparing to use this machine, it is moved over a rail of a track which it is desired to remove from its pavement so that a sleeper I3, with or without its sub-sleeper, is disposed at each side of the rail, a small area of the road at each side of the rail and beneath the same being removed to provide an opening around the rail so that a chain, cable or the like can be passed around the same. As shown in the drawing, we attach a chain 41 to the beam-lever 38 close to its pivoted end, as at 48, it being of a length to reach down and permit its being passed around the rail. Its lower terminal may be in the form of a hook 49 which can be entered through any link of the chain and thus ferm a loop around the rail.

With the machine thus placed in position for use, it is simply necessary to grasp the handle 28 and cause rotation of the latter, which in turn rotates the operating shaft 26; and by reason of the reduction gearing provided, consisting of the pinion 29, gear wheel 30, pinion 32, and gear wheel 33. causes partial powerful rotation of the crank shaft 34. In this manner a slow arcuate movement of the crank 36 takes place, which causes the pull-cable 31 to swing the beam-lever 38 upwardly on its pivot. Since this beam-lever is of considerable length, the point of attachment of the chain 41 is moved through a comparatively small are of a circle and a much smallel radius than the outer end oi' the beam-lever at the point of attachment of the pull cable thereto, thus providing a powerful leverage under which strain is applied to the chain suicient to pull that stretch of rail lying approximately between the sleepers I3 out of the pavement and to cause the portions of the pavement between the rail and the sleepers to be torn up. During this upward straining of the rail portion and the road portions mentioned, a contrary or counteracting force is applied to the frame I2, resulting in the sleepers I3 or sub-sleepers I4, as the case may be, holding down the areas of the road covered thereby, with the result that an action approaching that of shearing the pavement takes place at the inner edge of the sleepers or sub-sleepers.

Whether the pavement adjacent the rail is constructed of Cobble-stones, bricks, or other similar units bonded together with cement joints or otherwise, such units are easily pulled up with the rail under the tremendous force applied thereto, and where such units extend partly underneath the sleeper, they are invariably sheared, so that a substantially straight line of cleavage is provided coinciding with the inner edges or faces of the sleepers or sub-sleepers.

When an asphalt pavement having a concrete base is to be torn up, the concrete base down to the base flanges of the rail is broken and pulled up easily with the rail.

When rails secured to ties, such as used in open country and sometimes in towns and cities alongside a road, the sleepers are mounted on the ties at opposite sides of the rail, and upon operating the machine the rail and spikes fastening it to the ties will be pulled up while holding down the latter.

It will be apparent, therefore, that rails of railway tracks, whether embedded in pavements or mounted on cross ties in the manner usually resorted to with cross-country tracks, can be easily removed; it being, of course, understood that as soon as a stretch of rail is pulled up, the machine Search Roon will be moved forward, and where possible, the loop of the chain 41 moved along the elevated portion of the rail, after which the same operaf tion is repeated. If the particular construction of rail mounting results in pulling up parts with the rail that are fastened thereto, and the loop of the chain 41 cannot be expeditiously moved along the rail, it is a simple matter to disengage the hook 49 from the chain link through which it was passed, and the chain will be moved freely with the machine and can be quickly attached to an advance portion of the rail.

AS the rails are pulled out of the pavement and removed, the loose pavement portions can be carted away so that a narrow trough is formed, which can be quickly lled in and surface coated to match the adjoining pavement. Thus the repavement of the narrow elongated disturbed or destroyed area of the pavement can immediately follow the pulling up of the rails. This can be accomplished without much interference with traic.

To aid in advancing the machine step by step, I prefer to employ traction wheels which can be raised or lowered at will. When raised, the frame of the machine rests solidly on the pavement; and when lowered the frame is lifted so that traction will be provided for the wheels and the frame can be moved along the pavement without coming in Contact with any portion thereof. Such retractable wheels may be arranged as shown in the drawings hereof or in any other approved manner.

As shown in the drawings, I place verticallymovable bearing blocks or elements 50 within the channels of the short uprights 39 in which an axle 5I is journaled. This axle extends through vertical slots 52 in said uprights, and the bearing blocks or elements 50 project out of the channels in said uprights and have gear racks 53 on their projecting portion with which mesh gear wheels 54 secured to a shaft 55 parallel with and directly forward of said axle. The shaft 55 is journaled in bearings 56 secured to the uprights 39, and one end projects outwardly beyond the frame I2 and has a bevel gear 51 secured thereto. A bevel gear 58 is in mesh with bevel gear 51, and is secured t0 an upwardly and forwardly-trending shaft 59 journaled in bearings 60 secured to a bracket 6I bolted or otherwise fastened at its lower end to the outer side of the sleeper I3 at the same side of the machine. The upper or forward end of this shaft is bent into a crank 62 by means of which the shaft 59 is rotated. To the projecting ends of the axle 5I, traction wheels 63 are secured, they being preferably provided with pneumatic tires and normally elevated so that they do not come in contact with the ground or pavement, except when the machine is being transported or moved forward along a rail while engaged on a job.

Manifestly more than two traction wheels can be employed, but by arranging two midlength of the frame, or approximately so, they may be lowered to raise the frame; and if not balanced, the frame can be easily balanced by workmen lifting or lowering one end as the machine is being moved.

Assuming the traction wheels to be elevated and the frame of the machine resting on the pavement, rotating the shaft 59 will cause rotation of the shaft 55 which will result in the gear wheels 54 raising or lowering the bearing blocks or elements 50, depending on the direction of rotation of shaft 59, and thereby correspondingly moving the axle 5| and its traction wheels. Lowering of the traction wheels will cause the frame of the machine to be raised from the pavement so that only the wheels are in contact, thus the machine may be easily advanced along the rail the necessary distance for further operation. When the traction wheels are being elevated, the frame will become lowered and rest on the pavement with its full weight and the weight of all parts carried thereby.

While I have illustrated in the drawings and described herein means or power-mechanism comprising a particularly defined train of gears associated with the crank of the crank shaft serving to exert pulling force upwardly on a rail, the reduction-gearing thus formed may be otherwise constructed and arranged, and in lieu of handoperated power-mechanism, a motor or other source of primaiy power medium may be utilized for the purpose.

Moreover, when rails are mounted upon and secured to ties, the ties and ballast may be considered the pavement or road surface, since the effect of the hold-down means of this apparatus on the ties and ballast will be exactly that existing when an asphalt or other pavement in which a rail is embedded serves as a support for the apparatus.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that when starting operations, a small area of the road adjacent the rail, preferably the end of the rail, must be torn up to attach the chain 4l or some other suitable pulling element to the rail. The apparatus is next set into operation to lift the rail out of the pavement. This results in the rail being gradually lifted from the front end of the apparatus to the region of the lifting chain or element. The apparatus is then progressively advanced and the chain or other lifting element moved along the torn-up portion of the rail to take a new hold or bite, this being continued along the full length of the rail. Under the operation of the machine, the rail itself is used to serve as the necessary lever to cause shearing action of the road. There is consequently a new method of procedure involved in the operation of this apparatus, in that the rail itself is used as the shearing element with a View of removing the adjacent elongated area of the pavement by applying force in an upward direction to the rail and a counter-force to the narrow surrounding elongated areas, the sleepers of the apparatus serving as the hold-down means and the upwardly-moving rail providing a shearing action to cause the road to be gradually torn up from a point distant from to the point at which upward force is applied to the rail, so that under the progressive movement of the apparatus the pavement is gradually being sheared from the front of the apparatus rearwardly; thereby creating a well established practically straight-lined narrow trough out of which the rail is progressively lifted during the progressive forward movement of the apparatus, which may be advanced in any approved manner.

It is to be understood that the construction and combination of parts may be varied considerably without departing from the spirit of my invention as set out in the claims hereof or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof; but it is esential that the frame, or road hold-down means as it may be termed, shall be of considerable length compared to its width and that it shall be comparatively narrow so that only full-length stone blocks or bricks directly in contact with the rail to be torn up are exposed and that therefore, the area between the sleepers of the frame shall have a maximum width of two stone blocks or two bricks plus the width of the rail to be removed. This consequently differs from stump extractors, even under the scope of the broadest claim herein, in that a stump extractor must have a free area between the bearing elements resting on the ground which will be as large as the root of the stump. It will be apparent that such a structure would be impracticable for the purpose of my invention, since any usable stump extractor would result in destroying wide areas of the road pavement and cause tremendous unnecessary expense in repaving,

It is therefore to be understood that for tearing up rails laid in roads constructed of mass material, such as ashphalt, cement, or the like, the area or space between the sleepers 0r holddown elements of the frame need be spaced no farther apart than necessary to provide clearance for the rail when lifted out of the pavement. For this reason, regardless of the type of road in which the rail to be torn up is embedded, the hold-down elements are positioned in close proximity to the rail and preferably along a considerable length of the same.

I wish further to state that by reason of the apparatus being long and narrow, the operation of pulling up rails will not materially interfere with traffic, since there are no parts projecting laterally any considerable distance beyond the frame.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1 An apparatus for removing embedded ear rails from pavements, comprising two spaced-apart sleepers adapted to rest upon a road surface at opposite sides of and in close proximity to a track rail to hold down the pavement underneath said sleepers and forming rupturing lines in the pavement, uprights rising from said sleepers, a movable element wholly in a plane between said sleepers and in a plane above the same, means secured to said movable element for attachment to said rail, and mechanism for moving said movable element and causing said rail to be lifted from or out of said pavement and act as a shearing medium gradually shearing the pave- 'ment from a point a distance forward of the means of attachment to said rail rearwardly to said point.

2. An apparatus for removing car tracks, comprising a frame having two spaced-apart elongated members adapted to bear against a road surface at opposite sides of a track rail to be removed from the road and to hold down the pavement underneath and outside of said elongated members, uprights secured to said elongated members at one end thereof, additional uprights secured to said elongated members between said first-mentioned uprights and the opposite ends of said elongated members, a lever pivotally supported by said second-mentioned uprights and extending therefrom between said first-mentioned uprights, power-mechanism carried by said first-mentioned uprights and having connection with said lever to cause the vsame to move in an arc of a circle, and connection between said lever and said rail whereby the latter may be drawn upwardly from or out of said pavement while moving said lever through said arc of a circle in one direction.

3. An apparatus for removing car tracks, comprising a frame having two spaced-apart elongated members adapted to bear against a road surface at opposite sides of a track rail to hold down the pavement underneath and outside of said elongated members, uprights secured to said elongated members at their rear ends, additional uprights secured to said elongated members forward of said first-mentioned uprights, a lever pivotally secured between said second-mentioned uprights and extending rearwardly therefrom in the plane of said rail, means extending downwardy from said lever for attachment to said rail, a shaft jcurnaled in said first-mentioned uprights, connection between said shaft and said lever to cause the same to move through an arc of a circle upon rotation of said shaft, and means for rotating said shaft.

4. An apparatus for removing car tracks, comprising a frame having two spaced-apart sleepers adapted to bear against a road surface at opposite sides of a track rail to hold down the pavement underneath and outside of said sleepers, uprights extending upwardly from said sleepers at their rear ends, additional and shorter uprights secured to said sleepers forward of said first-mentioned uprights, a pivot-beam journaled in said short uprights, a beam-lever secured to said pivot-beam and extending rearwardly therefrom in the plane of said rail, a shaft journaled in said first-mentioned uprights, a flexible connection between said shaft and the rear or free end of said beam-lever, a pulling device depending frorn said beam-lever between its rear or free end and said pivot-beam and adapted for attachment to said rail, a primary actuator, and reduction gearing between said primary actuator and said shaft.

b. An apparatus for removing car tracks, comprising a frame having two spaced-apart sleepers adapted to bear against a road surface at opposte sides of a track rail to hold down the pavement underneath and outside of said sleepers, sail sleepers having their lower surfaces rounded at their front ends, uprights extending upwardly from said sleepers at their rear ends, neans to brace the upper ends of said uprights against the front ends of said sleepers, additional and shorter uprights secured to said sleepers forward of said first-mentioned uprights, a

pivot-beam journaled in the upper ends of said short upright-s, a beam-lever secured to said pivot-beam and extending rearwardly therefrom in the plane of said rail, a shaft journaled in said first-mentioned uprights. a flexible connection between said shaft and the rear or free end of said beam-lever, a flexible device depending from said beam-lever at a point near said pivotbeam and adapted lor attachment to said rail, a primary actuator, and reduction gearing between said primary actuator and said shaft, said primary actuator and said reduction gearing being carried by said first-mentioned uprights.

6. An apparatus for removing car tracks, comprising a frame having two spaced-apart sleepers adapted to bear against a road surface at opposite sides of and in close proximity to a track rail to hold down the pavement underneath and outside of said sleepers, frame members extending upwardly from said sleepers. and actuatable means including a lever supported by said frame members and suitable connections between said lever and said rail for attachment at spacedapart points to the latter whereby upon actuation of said means said rail and the pavement porewan NUDI" pavement intact so as to form a narrow elongated trough limited in length only by the length of the rail to be torn up under successive and advancing operations along said rail.

'7. An apparatus for removing car tracks, comprising a frame having two spaced-apart sleepers adapted to bear against a road surface at opposite sides of a track rail, the space between said rail and each sleeper determining the elongated area of the pavement to be torn up on removal of the rail, actuatable means supported by said frame members including suitable connections for attachment to said rail whereby upon actuation of said means said rail and said elongated arcas of the pavement at opposite sides thereof are torn up, and means attachable to said frame to vary the width of the pavement to be torn up at each side of the rail.

8. An apparatus for removing car tracks, comprising a fra-me having two spaced-apart sleepers adapted to bear against a road surface at opposite sides of a track rail, the space between said rail and each sleeper determining the elongated areas of the pavement to be torn up on removal of the rail, frame members extending upwardly from said sleepers, power means connected to said rail carried by said frame members, and sub-sleepers applied to the under side of said sleepers to narrow the elongated regions of the pavement to be torn up with said rail.

9. An apparatus for removing car tracks region by region along any given length of a track rail, comprising a narrow comparatively long frame having two spaced-apart sleepers adapted to bear against a road surface at opposite sides of and in close proximity to a track rail when removing the same, frame members extending upwardly from said sleepers, means carried by said frame members attachable to said rail and adapted to exert an upward pulling force on said rail when said frame rests on the road surface, and wheels for said frame to permit the apparatus to be moved along the pavement region by region, said traction wheels being retractable to cause said frame to rest upon the road surface so that by successive regional operations the rail torn up will shear the road to form a narrow trough limited in length only by the length of the rail to be torn up.

10. An apparatus for removing car tracks, comprising an elongated narrow frame including two spaced-apart sleepers, two pairs of uprights extending upwardly from said sleepers, powermechanism carried by one of said pairs of uprights and having means of attachment to a track rail to cause removal of the rail from its embedded position in the pavement when actuated, traction wheels, veltically adjustable bearings in the other of said pairs of uprights, an axle journaled in said bearings and extending outwardly through said last-mentioned uprights, traction wheels carried by said axle, and means for vertically moving said bearings to cause said frame to be elevated and said traction wheels to be lowered or to cause said frame to be lowered so as to rest upon the pavement and said traction wheels to be elevated.

11. The method of removing rails of car tracks, which consists in applying pressure downwardly against narrow elongated spaced-apart regions of a pavement at opposite sides of and in close proximity to a track rail, and in applying an upward strain on said rail at a point between said downwardly applied pressure-regions to loosen the rail from the pavement and adjacentl parts holding down the rail between the downwardly applied pressure-regions.

12. An apparatus for removing embedded car rails from pavements under progressive action, comprising comparatively long hold-down means having elements parallel with and in close proximity to the rail to be removed, and powermechanism supported by said hold-down means adapted to be progressively engaged with said rail and cause the latter to shear the pavement gradually from one end of said hold-down means toward the other.

13. An apparatus for removing embedded car rails from pavements under progressive action, comprising comparatively long mobile hold-down elements parallel with and in close proximity to the rail to be removed, means for progressively engaging said rail step-by-step while advancing said hold-down means along the road surface, and means for exerting upward pulling actions at intervals on said rail-engaging means to cause the rail to be gradually lifted from the pavement under a shearing action of the rail gradually increasing from a point forward of said rail-engaging means to the latter.

14. The method of removing rails of car tracks from pavements, consisting in applying downward force progressively along and against the road surface at opposite sides of and in close proxiirity to a track rail and opposite force progressively to the rail to be removed at spacedapart points between the forces applied downwardly against the road surface to cause the rail to shear the pavement gradually from a point spaced from said point of application of opposite force to the point at which said opposite force is applied.

15. An apparatus for removing embedded car rails from pavements, comprising a frame having hold-down members spaced from each other a distance greater than the width of the base of the rail and adapted to contact with the pavement at opposite sides of and adjacent the rail for forming rupturing lines in the pavement and power-mechanism carried by said frame above said hold-down members and having means for connection to the rail, said power-mechanism operating to raise the rail from between said hold-down members and rupture the pavement between said hold-down members so that the pavement in which the rail is immediately imbedded is broken and lifted with the rail, leaving the pavement beneath the hold-down members undisturbed.

16. An apparatus for removing embedded car rails from pavements, comprising elongated holddown members spaced from each other a distance slightly greater than the width of the base of the rail and adapted to contact with the pavement at opposite sides of and adjacent the rail for forming rupturing lines in the pavement, and powermechanism supported by said hold-down members distant from one of their ends and having means for connection to the rail, said powermechanism operating to raise the rail from between said hold-down members and rupture the pavement gradually from the aforesaid ends of said hold-down members toward the region of said means for connection so that the pavement in which the rail is immediately embedded is broken and lifted with the rail, leaving the pavement beneath the hold-down members undisturbed.

17. An apparatus for removing embedded car rails from pavements, comprising a frame having hold-down members spaced from each other a distance greater than the width of the base of the rail and adapted to contact with the pavement at opposite sides of and adjacent the rail for forming rupturing lines in the pavement, and powermechanism carried by said frame above said holddown members and having a pulling element for connection to said rail serving to exert upward pulling force on said rail so as to lift the rail from between said hold-down members and rupture the pavement therebetween so that the pavement in which the rail is immediately embedded is progressively broken and lifted with the rail under a step-by-step advancing action of said pulling element along said rail.

18. The method of removing embedded car rails from pavements, which consists in applying pressure downwardly against narrow elongated spaced-apart regions of a pavement at opposite sides of and in close proximity to a car` rail and in exerting force upwardly to said rail at a point between said narrow elongated spaced-apart regions to loosen the portions of the pavement in which the rail is immediately embedded and to lift the rail from said portions while leaving all of the pavement at and outside of said narrow elongated spaced-apart regions undisturbed.

19. The method of removing embedded car rails from pavements, which consists in applying pressure downwardly against narrow elongated spaced-apart regions of a pavement at opposite sides of and in close proximity to a car rail to thus hold down the pavement at said narrow elongated regions and all regions outside of the latter, and in causing upward strain to be applied to said rail to loosen narrow elongated regions of the pavement between said narrow elongated spaced-apart regions and to pull up the rail from the loosened portions of the pavement while leaving the pavement at and outside of said narrow elongated spaced-apart regions undisturbed.

20; The method of removing embedded car rails from pavements, which consists in applying pressure downwardly against narrow elongated spaced-apart regions of a pavement at opposite sides of and in close proximity to a car rail to thus hold down the pavement at said narrow elongated regions and all regions outside of the latter, in subjecting the rail to force in a direction opposite that of said downwardly applied pressure, and in repeating such steps successively along the length of said pavement and said rail at spaced-apart intervals.

ELMER C. THIES. 

